About NAPCE

NAPCE is an evangelical organization with a history that can be traced back to 1929. Read more about what we believe, our history, meet some of our past presidents, and some of the people to whom NAPCE has awarded our Warren S. Benson Distinguished Christian Education Award.

What We Believe

NAPCE is an evangelical organization with the following beliefs, which comprises our Statement of Faith:

  1. We believe the Bible to be the only inspired, infallible, authoritative Word of God.
  2. We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
  3. We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
  4. We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful humankind, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
  5. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
  6. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
  7. We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Historical Perspectives

NAPCE has a long history that can be traced back to its roots in 1929. The following history was extracted from an extensive paper written by Dr. Eileen Starr chronicling the historical development of the NAPCE association.

An Historical Perspective of the North American Professors of Christian Education

The historical roots of the North American Professors of Christian Education (NAPCE) can be traced to the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and the need to promote an evangelical faith. The New England Fellowship, formed in 1929 to promote cooperation among evangelicals, gave birth to the idea of a national association of evangelicals. The influence of the liberal Federal Council necessitated another organization to unify evangelicals. The leaders who formed NAE in 1942 desired to unite all evangelical believers.

From its inception, NAE was concerned about:

1. Evangelism
2. Evangelicals' relation to government
3. National and local use of radio
4. Public relations
5. The preservation of separation of church and state
6. Christian education
7. The guarantee of freedom for home and foreign missionary endeavor.

The National Association of Evangelicals formed various commissions and affiliated organizations to address the concerns of the Association. Among the commissions formed was the Church School Commission.


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NAPCE Presidents

The following individuals have served NAPCE faithfully over the years as president of our organization:

1952-1954 Rebecca Price
1954-1957 Warren Filkin
1958-1961 Howard Hendricks
1961-1963 Gene Getz
1963-1965 Kenneth Gangel
1965-1967 Edward Hayes
1967-1969 Paul Loth
1969-1971 Clifford Anderson
1971-1974 Ronald Chadwick
1974-1976 Dennis Williams
1976-1978 William Haburn
1978-1980 Robert Wilson
1980-1982 Brian Richardson
1982-1984 Edward Smyth
1984-1984 Bill Bynum
1984-1986 Dennis Williams
1986-1988 Warren Benson
1988-1990 James Plueddemann
1990-1992 Eileen Starr
1992-1994 Fred Wilson
1994-1996 Michael Anthony
1996-1998 David Rahn
1998-2000 Greg Carlson
2000-2002 Mark Cannister
2002-2006 Eileen Starr
2006-2008 Robert Drovdahl
2008 - Present Michael Anthony

Warren S. Benson Distinguished Christian Educator Award

The following individuals have been awarded NAPCE's Warren S. Benson Distinguished Chrisitan Educator Award for their outstanding contribution to Christian education and the Body of Christ:


1991 Charles Van Ness; Lois and Mary LeBar
1992 Leroy Ford; Howard Hendricks
1993 Bill V. Bynum; D. Campbell Wyckoff
1994 Warren S. Benson; Ted W. Ward
1995
1996
1997 Kenneth O. Gangel
1998 Dennis E. Williams
1999 Donald M. Joy
2000 Jim Plueddemann
2001
2002 Les Blank
2003 Julie Gorman
2004 Lawrence O. Richards
2005 Gene A. Getz
2006 Edward Hayes; Marlene D. LeFever
2009 Roy B. Zuck; William R. Yount
2010 Cathy Stonehouse